It seems like a while ago that a Dota 2 patch was dropped on us, but Dota 2 patch 7.27d is here with some balance changes. The patch features changes to four items and 29 heroes, with most of the changes being minor ones, although some heroes have had big changes done to them. The entire set of changes can be found here. We will take a look at the major ones that are bound to have a significant impact on the game.
Item changes
The change to talk about in the items is the nerf to Helm of the Dominator. While the additional 4 armor does add a bit of effective HP, dominated creeps are now a lot more susceptible to burst damage and AoE magic damage. Patch 7.27 on the whole has been quite detrimental to HotD users like Beastmaster and Lycan. This is just piling on the hurt.
Hero changes
(1) Doom
When Devour first got the HP regen component, it was 5 HP per second at level 1! Through the patches, that has been hacked down and we are now down to 1 HP regen at level 1. The high HP regen gave Doom the ability to dive in at level 2 and make some cocky plays, which is all but gone now. Level 2 of Devour is when some siginificant HP regen kicks in, meaning Doom will have to take measured steps until at least hitting level 3. The nerfs to Scorched Earth are just meant to kick a demon when he’s down; although Doom can’t descend any further, considering he’s already in the seventh and final level of hell.
(2) Silencer
Silencer is worth mentioning here for the buff he has on Last Word. Although it’s a solitory change, the buff is a direct 40 damage increase to Last Word at every level, making the damage 50% higher at level 1 and 33% higher at level 2. It might be worth investing two points in the skill at level 3 now, for the high burst damage. And that’s just the base damage – there’s another damage component based on the difference in intelligence between Silencer and the target. A couple of Mantle’s of Intelligence and a few Clarity potions could make the laning stage a living hell for the opposition heroes.
(3) Spectre
The nerf to Spectral Dagger and Desolate are targetted only in the early game, but it will have a snowball effect. Spectre relies on Spectral dagger to get those last hits in a difficult lane, and Desolate helps in retreating to the jungle early in case things go extremely wrong in lane. The nerf to Haunt will haunt her more in the late game. 20 additional seconds is a decent chunk of time, especially when things get really close in long games. It will be easier for the opposition team to play around the Haunt timing.
(4) Underlord
Underlord was one of the heroes who came out looking very good from patch 7.27b, but seeing how overpowered the buffs made him, he was brought down a notch in patch 7.27c. The nerfs continue in patch 7.27d, as he remains to be a strong hero in the meta. Firestorm cast range, Pit of Malice cooldown and Atrophy Aura creep bonus have all been targetted at the initial levels, meaning the nerf is meant to make life difficult for Underlord in the laning stage. More than make life more difficult for him, it is actually aimed at making life a bit easier for his opponent in the lane. Dotabuff shows Underlord continuously having a win rate of around 56%, which explains the reason for the nerf.
The Omega League is the big tournament in progress right now and this is where the new patch will first feature itself amongst the major teams. Although the changes aren’t too vast, the beautiful thing about Dota 2 is that small changes tend to make a huge difference. It remains to be seen how the changes from Dota 2 patch 7.27d will manifest themselves in professinal games.
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